New figures from leading analyst firms are showing an increased investment in the global clean tech market in 2014, driven primarily by investments in solar and wind energy (which accounted for more than 90 per cent of 2014′s overall clean tech spend). According to the UNEP’s 9th “Global Trends in Renewable Energy Investment” report, 2014 saw green energy investments worldwide jump about 17% to $270.2 billion. That’s an increased share of total world electricity generation from 8.5% in 2013 to 9.1% last year.

With Growth Comes Both Opportunities & Challenges

As the industry continues to experience growth as a result of these increasing investments, those companies in the clean tech business are facing many opportunities but also many challenges. Some of these challenges are unique to the sector, while others are shared across other emerging industries and growing companies. Here are three of the big hurdles that solar, wind and other clean tech companies will need to address in order to realize continued success in the competitive energy market.

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